Lirikonfest

Lirikonfest Velenje is a traditional year-round festival celebrating 21st-century lyrical and travelogue arts. Its main program is a literary meeting with international participation in Velenje (held in June or September), which has been organized by the Velenje Literary Foundation (UVKF) and the Velenika literary association, in cooperation with Slovenian and foreign partners, since 2002. For the first five years, it was known as the “Herbersteinian meeting of Slovenian authors with international participation.”

Lirikonfest Velenje (a “poetry retreat” and “festival of lyrical and travelogue sensibility”) has been dedicated to the presentation and popularization of 21st-century fine literature, its authors, translators, international intermediaries of Slovenian poetry/literature and language to other nations, Slovenian travelogue writers and essayists, organizers, editors, and other experts on Slovenian, European, and World literature for two decades. It establishes and broadens international literary collaboration, focusing on original and translated 21st-century poetry and contemplating the cognitive, cohesive, and critical role of literature in European society and beyond. Lirikonfest's literary roundtables feature essays and debates on contemporary European literary themes.

Programme

The year-round program of Lirikonfest Velenje includes 21 productions. These are presented to around one hundred foreign and Slovenian authors, translators, international intermediaries, and other experts in 21st-century fine literature through original and translated periodical publications in the festival anthology Rp. Lirikon21, festival readings, literary roundtables, residential creative stays, and other events.

Both established and emerging Slovenian and European authors, translators, expert interpreters, editors, philosophers, aesthetes, international literary intermediaries, and other experts and followers of original and translated fiction (especially 21st-century poetry; since 2017, an original Slovenian travelogue has been included) are invited to participate in Lirikonfest.

Lirikonfest's events are open to the public and include a reading culture development program with literary subscriptions (program cycles), namely I Devour Books (“Požiram knjigo”; for adults and older youth), Chocolate with a Book (“Čokolada s knjigo”; for children and younger youth), and Winged Turtle Tales (“Krilata želva pripoveduje”; selected Slovenian travelogues).

In a manner of speaking, Lirikonfest Velenje encompasses all circles through which Slovenian literature spreads among readers: it introduces children’s literature to the youngest; enables younger authors to gain more recognition; presents the latest works of established Slovenian and foreign authors; opens expert roundtable debates on contemporary themes in Slovenian and European literature; includes its own literary-periodical and fictional book production; spreads the reading culture; offers a variety of literary events; and demonstrates international literary collaboration in Slovenia, occasionally joining tours or presentations abroad.

Awards

Within the framework of the festival, two biennial accolades are awarded: Lirikonov zlát for outstanding journal translations of 21st-century Slovene poetry into foreign languages and translations of contemporary poetry into Slovenian, and Herbersteinski-lirikonfestov zlát for the best literature essay on the current festival theme.

The international Pretnar Award is presented annually to acknowledge the work of ambassadors of Slovene literature and language abroad. At the ceremony Academy Poetic Slovenia, the Cup of Immortality (Čaša nesmrtnosti) is awarded to honour outstanding oeuvres of poetry or poetic drama for youth by Slovene authors. The awarded authors and translators can participate in international literary residencies in Velenje, Šaleška and Zgornja Savinjska valleys.

External links

On Lirikonfest on the Velenje Literary Foundation website (in Slovenian)

Lirikonfest

Contents

Programme

Awards

See also

External links

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